Movistar Yamaha Press Release:
Movistar Yamaha MotoGP’s Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi will start tomorrow’s Grand Prix Čzech Republic from the second and third row after taking sixth and seventh place respectively in today’s qualifying session.
Lorenzo was eager to start the 15-minute qualifying session and the first one out of the pits to ensure a free track for his first stint. His first flying lap of 1.56.318, took him to provisional pole, before being pushed back to sixth place when the pace quickened. With a little more than seven minutes to go he came into the pits for a fresh set of rubber front and rear. With three minutes of the session left Lorenzo had only one lap to show his pace with the softer compound front tire and rode a 1’55.815 moving him up from eleventh to sixth.
It was an eventful day for teammate Valentino Rossi. The nine-time World Champion was right on the pace during Free Practice #4, setting the fastest lap of the weekend thus far before suffering a crash and injuring his left little finger. Rossi had an X-ray at the Clinica Mobile and was declared fit to continue.
During qualifying he took his time to get out on track, giving the other riders a head start. During his first stint, the Doctor’s best lap of 1’56.708 saw him move to tenth place before he came in for new tires with less than seven minutes remaining. Two minutes later he was back and, despite the pain, set a personal best lap of 1’55.821, shooting him up to the top five before being demoted to seventh in the last laps.
Jorge Lorenzo #99:
6th / 1’55.815 / 6 laps
“The lap times are not bad. I had some pretty fast laps even on used tires. Some days if you can’t go a little bit faster it makes a big difference. It could have been worse, because also the riders in seventh, eight and ninth place are very close to my lap times. When we put a soft tire on the front it gave me much more confidence. Unfortunately it won’t be possible to use this tyre for tomorrow’s race, so we have to work on the bike to give me more confidence with the harder front tire. I swopped bikes during the qualifying session because we put a special brake on the number one bike and the braking was good, but we lost a lot of time with speed and acceleration, especially on the last corner. We concentrated on the normal bike with our last try and it was better.”
Valentino Rossi #46:
7th / 1’55.821 / 7 laps
“I was pushing a lot and my pace was fast but unfortunately when entering turn eleven I was a little bit too wide. I was braking hard, trying to enter the corner anyway but I lost the front and damaged my little finger. It’s very important for tomorrow that there is no fracture. It seems like there won’t be any problem. My finger is not broken; it’s just a little bit damaged. I think and hope that it won’t give me problems during the race. Using the soft front tyre for tomorrow is not an option for me. I think using the hard tire on the front is better.”
Massimo Meregalli:
“Jorge has run a good pace for all the sessions however we were unable to make the most of it in the qualifying session and take full advantage of his pace. We will work to make a step for him to improve his feeling with the bike tomorrow morning and he should be ready for the race. With Vale we made a good improvement with the bike and he was pretty satisfied. We are still looking for some more improvements but the level is good. Unfortunately he crashed in free practice otherwise I’m sure he would be further in front. He really put in a lot of effort as he had a big, deep abrasion on his hand. It’s a shame that we lost the second row for almost nothing.”
Qualifying Result:
FRONT ROW:
1. Marc Marquez (SPA) Repsol Honda Team 1’55.585
2. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA) Ducati Team 1’55.714
3. Andrea Iannone (ITA) Pramac Racing 1’55.726
SECOND ROW:
4. Bradley Smith (GBR) Monster Yamaha Tech3 1’55.730
5. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Repsol Honda Team 1’55.812
6. Jorge Lorenzo (SPA) Movistar Yamaha MotoGP 1’55.815
THIRD ROW:
7. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Movistar Yamaha MotoGP 1’55.821
8. Stefan Bradl (GER) LCR Honda MotoGP 1’55.871
9. Pol Espargarò (SPA) Monster Yamaha Tech3 1’55.899
FOURTH ROW:
10. Aleix Espargaro (SPA) NGM Forward Racing 1’56.090
11. Cal Crutchlow (GBR) Ducati Team 1’56.129
12. Yonny Hernandez (COL) Energy T.I. Pramac Racing 1’56.622
FIFTH ROW:
13. Michele Pirro (ITA) Ducati Team 1’57.093
14. Alvaro Bautista (SPA) Go&Fun Honda Gresini 1’57.428
15. Scott Redding (GBR) Go&Fun Honda Gresini 1’57.557
SIXTH ROW:
16. Hiroshi Aoyama (JPN) Drive M7 Aspar 1’57.984
17. Karel Abraham (CZE) Cardion AB Motoracing 1’58.100
18. Leon Camier (GBR) Drive M7 Aspar 1’58.635
SEVENTH ROW:
19. Danilo Petrucci (ITA) Octo IodaRacing Team 1’58.863
20. Alex De Angelis (RSM) NGM Forward Racing 1’58.948
21. Hector Barbera (SPA) Avintia Racing 1’58.968
EIGHTH ROW:
22. Michael Laverty (GBR) Paul Bird Motorsport 1’58.968
23. Brok Parkes (AUS) Paul Bird Motorsport 1’59.581
24. Mike Di Meglio (FRA) Avintia Racing 2’00.117
For more information: www.yamahamotogp.com
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